Known Information
Joseph is listed in the 1880 and 1900 Census for Thomas Reeder.
Sources
Newspapers
Evening Star
Washington, District of Columbia
14 Sep 1887, Wed • Page 2
Evening Star
Washington, District of Columbia
07 May 1889, Tue • Page 2
Evening Star
Washington, District of Columbia
21 Jan 1904, Thu • Page 5
The Washington Times
Washington, District of Columbia
22 Jan 1904, Fri • Page 6
Evening Star
Washington, District of Columbia
13 Feb 1908, Thu • Page 19
The Washington Post
Washington, District of Columbia
29 Jul 1915, Thu • Page 14
Evening Star
Washington, District of Columbia
22 Oct 1915, Fri • Page 9
Maps
A complete set of surveys and plats of properties in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, 1887 | DC Public Library
Baist, G. Wm, Wm. E Baist, and H. V Baist. Baist’s real estate atlas of surveys of Washington, District of Columbia: complete in four volumes. Philadelphia: G.W. Baist, -<1911 >, 1909. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/87675120/
1872 | Estimated Birth Year
based on ages given in the 1880 and 1910 Census.
1880 Census
Living with parents, Thomas and Martha (Colbert) Reeder in Jackson Alley, the heart of Swampoodle. He is eight years old living with two sisters, Mary and Georgiana.
1891-97 | 809 N Capitol
The 1891, 1892, and 1897 City Directories list his address as 809 N Capitol street. This address is a block north of the Government Printing Office and within a stone’s throw of Jackson Alley. North Capitol is the N/S road on the right side of the map excerpt. 809 N Capitol is lot 34 on the block opposite DeFrees Street.
In 1887, the Evening Star ran an advertisement for the sale of the property as a grocery store
In 1889, the Evening star ran an advertisement for a laborer to help in the grocery store.
1900 Census
He is living at 50 Jackson Alley, with his parents and his brother, Charles. Both he and his father are working as day laborers while Charles has a job as a photographer. The census reports that he and his father haven’t been able to work in six months. The census enumerator indicated he had been married for 5 years, but doesn’t list a wife.
The Evening Star lists a marriage between Joseph Reeder and Josephine Lucas in 1895. She is living with parents in the 1900 Census and lists her status as a widow. She is living on Adams Express Alley. There is no death records in the index for a Joseph Reeder between 1895-1900 and a search of the newspapers does not return one either. However, the lack of a death record is inconclusive as one may not have been filed.
1904 Marriage
The Evening Star runs the list of marriage licenses, including Joseph D Reeder and Abbie Nelson. When he applied for the license, he expressed worry for the cake, as he had purchased it from a Seventh Street confectionary and was having it delivered to 809 North Capitol and it had yet to appear.
This article has him living back at the 809 North Capitol address suggesting he works again for the grocery story.
1907-1908 City Directory
He and his wife are living at 54 Pierce Street NW. Pierce Street was undeveloped in the 1887 Plat Book. In the 1907 Baists Real Estate it was block of row houses. It has since be redesigned. It is one block over from where the Hodcarrier’s Association had their building in the 1880s and where James Reeder lived.
In 1908, there was a reported case of smallpox. No name was provided in the news report. It is unclear if it was in the Reeder household or another household residing in the house.
1910 Census | 1909-1912 City Directories
He is living on 17 Fenton St NE, where his aunts and uncles lived in the 1890s. He is living with his wife and son, Abbie and Frank Reeder. The census enumerator lists this as his first marriage and that they have been for 6 years. Frank is 4 years old.
Joseph is working as a teamster at a grocery store according to the census; the city directories list him as a clerk.
The map excerpt shows the block with the 809 North Capitol Street Grocery store, as the bottom block, with the RR Terminal property on the back side of the block. Two blocks north was Fenton Street, with townhouses packed in tightly.
1914-1915 | 809 N. Capitol
In the 1914 City Directory he is listed as living in rooms above the grocery store. A 1915 Washington Post article that calls him Joseph Reed states his residence as 809 N. Capitol; he was arrested at the rear of 18 L Street northwest and taken to Washington Asylum Hospital, a consolidated hospital, poorhouse and workhouse.
In the 1920 Census, Frank Reeder, Joseph and Abbie’s son, are living in the rear of L Street with Abbie’s parents, Kate and Thomas Simms. Kate died the next year, in 1921 and their address is listed as 13 L Street NW (rear). It lists her daughter and grandson, but not Joseph.
It is likely that Joseph was visiting his in-laws when he was arrested. In October, an Evening Star article states that he was acquitted for his perceived role in a robbery.
Unknown
Joseph and Abbie Reeder have yet to be located in the 1920 or 1930 census. Frank is recorded marrying in Detroit, Michigan in 1935. His parents are listed on the license. He lives there until his death in 1982. It is unclear if Joseph and Abbie also went to Michigan.
Further Research Needed:
- Locate a death record for both Abbie and Joseph Reeder
- Locate them in the 1920 and 1930 census (if living)
stories of Then 